What are Segments?

Segments allow you to group together subscribers that have things in common. For example, you might want to create a segment of subscribers that all have the same tag or who are all currently subscribed to the same campaign.

Segments vs. Lists

Let’s take a look at how segments give you more power than a traditional list.

Segments are dynamic. This means that if the criteria defined by the segment is removed from the subscriber, the segment will automatically update and the subscriber will be removed. And if a subscriber acquires the criteria defined by a segment, they will automatically get added to the segment.

Lists, on the other hand, are static. This means that there is nothing differentiating one subscriber from the next, with no option of grouping subscribers who have certain things in common.

A subscriber’s email address could live on many lists in one email marketing account, so they could receive multiple emails from you.

Instead of creating meaningful groups of subscribers based on who they are and what they’ve done, you are stuck looking at a pre-defined group of subscribers on one list.

In the next section, you'll learn how to can create your own segments.

Creating Segments

Go to Subscribers > List:

Let’s say we want to see all subscribers sharing a common tag.

In that case, we would select Tags from the filter drop-down. Select include and enter the tag you would like to segment your subscribers by. Click Refresh and your account will only return subscribers that fulfill the filter criteria:

You can create more advanced segments as well. For instance, you might want to see any subscriber that has not made a purchase in the current calendar month.

That filter would return a segment of subscribers that have not made a purchase yet this month.

To save the segment, Click Save Segment and give it a descriptive name: